Loom roll cover



Dec. 1, 1970 A E. MROTHERME'L. 3,544,423

LQoM ROLL COVER l Filed June l, 1967 2 Sheets-Sh t l v FIG. .ee

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LOOM ROLL COVER Filed June l, 1967 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 161-88 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Roll cover in strip form comprising a textile backing ply bonded to an elastomeric fabric engaging ply which presents a multiplicity of oblique siped incisions in its otherwise smooth surface.

This invention comprises a new and improved loom roll cover material presenting an operating or traction surface of novel and very desirable characteristics.

Looms in general are equipped with take-off mechanism for removing the woven fabric from the loom at the same rate that it is formed by the weaving mechanism. Ordinarily this take-off mechanism includes a roll which may be 8 to 16" in diameter and which has its surface covered with sheet material having a high coecient of friction with fabric. The roll is driven at a speed consistent with the rate of weaving and is ordinarily provided with auxiliary snub rollers so that the woven fabric may be snubbed around a substantial arc of the take-olf roll which then serves to pull the woven fabric through the loom. The tension required to pull the woven fabric through the loom against the resistance of the creel, warp beam and other loom parts is very considerable so that the loom take-off roll surface must in practice develop a high coe'icient of friction with the fabric of the cloth with which it is to deal.

Materials most used for loom roll surface consist of a ply of textile sheeting coated with rubber or resilient plastic which may be from .050 to l1.25 thick, the rubber surface having a roughened, scored or embossed surface. Heretofore it has been difficult to produce a surface having adequate friction or traction characteristics without making it so coarse or rough as locally to indent the surface of delicate fabrics which may be woven and which have their surface adversely affected by any surface imprint imparted by the take-off roll. One of the most successful surfaces heretofore employed is the so-called sandpaper finish as described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,156,871, May 2, 1939. A serious diiculty of all such random pattern surfaces developed from sandpaper, crepe rubber or the like is the tendency of certain areas to contain local areas of higher friction or greater height than otherareas so that local stresses and consequently objectionable indentations appear in the woven fabric. Longitudinal traction if not properly qualified often causes an objectionable reduction in the width of the treated fabric.

The sheet or strip material of this invention is produced in the form of ribbon about two inches in Width and is siped or incised in flat or transversely curved condition. Itis then Wrapped helically about the roll, forming a continuous cylindrical surface in which the siped incisions are resiliently opened to expose a multiplicity of inclined fabric gripping edges. It is of course important that the direction of the incisions should be such that they will resiliently open when the convex surface of the cover material is stressed in the wrapping operation. Best results are secured by inclining the incisions at an angle of approximately 28 to the center line or to the longitudinal axis of the ribbon. In employing a herringbone pattern of 3,544,423 Patented Dec. l, 1970 siping the incisions preferably form an included angle of approximately 124.

In addition to exerting a powerful and uniformly distributed traction on the woven product the loom roll cover of this invention has the advantage of tending to smooth or iron the fabric by contact With the smooth areas of contact between its incised edges. It has no tendency to impart an irregular or waed effect to the fabric. This is due largely to the fact that the opened incisions provide reentrant cavities in the otherwise smooth surface of the roll cover, as distinguished from surfaces having projecting elements that necessarily indent the treated fabric product.

This new type of loom roll cover has many advantages over those heretofore known since it can be produced in patterns of absolutely uniform surface configuration and with a selected degree of coarseness and corresponding coefficient of friction. Such a pattern presents an almost infinite number of individual resilient contact edges distributed with precise uniformity thus insuring identical treatment to every area of the woven fabric.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which- FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a covered loom roll,

FIGS. 2 and 3 are plan and side elevational views of a fragment of the roll cover material,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view on a greatly enlarged scale showing the cover material as wrapped around the roll,

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in perspective of a portion of the roll cover formed with oblique siped incisions, and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic sectional View suggesting a machine for carrying out the siping operation.

The term to sipe will rst be dened as used herein and in the rubber industry. As originally used it meant to form in a tire a series of transverse slicing cuts without the removal of any material, to a depth of about onequarter inch and all with similar spacing. The term rst came into use in connection with United States Pat. 2,180,556 granted Nov. 21, 1939 to Harry E. Sipe. From that start it was generally adopted by the industry. See for example registered trademark Microsipe, No. 617,808, Dec. 210, 1955.

As herein shown the illustrated material comprises a backing sheet 11 of close woven fabric to which is permanently bonded a ply '12 of resilient rubber or other elastomeric composition. The surface of this material is calandered and cured or vulcanized by heat and pressure to form a smooth and continuous surface and prepared in the form of a ribbon which may be approximately two inches in width with an over-all thickness of approximately 5/32 inch. The fabric ply 11 may be about 1/32 inch in thickness and the elastomeric or rubber ply 1A; inch in thickness.

One very satisfactory pattern of siping incisions 13 as shown in FIG. 5 is at an oblique angle of about 28 to the longitudinal axis of the material with a spacing of 1A inch. In FIG. 2 a second set of siping incisions 14 is shown forming a herringbone pattern and in this case the included angle of the intersecting incisions is approximately 124. As above stated the precise pattern of the siping incisions is of secondary importance so long as they permit resilient opening at an inclination to the direction of feed as suggested in FIG. 4 when the material is wrapped upon a loom roll 10.

The precise composition of the ply 12 is of secondary importance so long as it is tough, resilient and elastic. Any one of a number of compounds based on natural or lCC synthetic rubbersY may be successfully used. nA typical compound based on natural rubber has as its principal ingredients:

In FIG. 6 is suggested a preferred form of machine for converting the otherwise nished ribbon to -roll cover material. The machine includes a driven rotary drum 20 having pronounced helical threads 21 and a helical blade 22 of the same pitch as the threads of the drum and projecting radically about 1A inch beyond them.

Cooperating with the threaded drum 20 is a rotary carrier 23 of elastomeric texture. The carrier is pressed against the threads of drum 20, being indented by them and rotated about an axis at 28 or at any selected angles to that of the drum. The ribbon =11, 12 is fed through the bite or nip of the drum 20 and the carrier 23 and a single siping incision is formed in the ribbon during each revo1ution of the drum with its blade 22. The elements of the machine as shown in FIG. 6 are more fully described in United States Letters Patent No. 3,089,164, May 14, 1963 to which reference may be had. It will be noted that the ribbon under treatment is flexed transversely in its passage beneath the carrier 23 and so brought into concentric relation to the rotating blade 22.

In forming the siped incisions 14 for the herringbone pattern the ribbon is run a second time through the machine with the carrier set at an opposite angle to the drum 20.

The roll cover material now completed as above described may be fastened at one end to the loom roll 10, as suggested in FIG. 1, wrapped helically thereon and secured in operative condition. In this operation the material of the elastomeric ply 12 is stressed, particularly in its outer surface, and the incisions 13 and 14 are resiliently opened as suggested in FIG. 4 thus rendering effective the now-exposed edges of the resulting cavities.

While the invention has been described specically in its application to loom roll covering, the siped material in various widths may be used with good advantage for covering rolls in any textile nishingY machinery where high traction against wet fabrics is required. It may also be usefully employed for handling paper and as lagging for driver rolls of a conveyor system. All such uses of the described roll cover material are within the contemplation of the invention.

' Having thus disclosed my inventionv and described an illustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent: Y

1. Roll cover in strip form for winding upon the takeoff roll "of a loom for weaving delicate fabrics, in which the invention comprises a textile'backing ply'united to a fabric-engaging ply of elastomeric material which presents, when wrapped in roll formation, a uniform herringbone pattern of siping incisions in its convex surface', disposed in parallel relation and at van oblique angle of about 28 to the axis of the roll and the direction of feed when wound about the cylindrical surface thereof, the said incisions intersecting each other with an included angle of approximately 124 and being resiliently opened to form reentrant cut edges in the otherwise smooth surface of the roll cover which surface is thus rendered effective for rolling or smoothing progressive areas of the woven fabric.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,649,080 11/ 1927 Ross 139--307 1,786,190 12/1930 Busch 139-307 2,121,955 6/1938y Eger 152-209 2,201,668 5/ 1940 Kraft '152-209 2,701,930 2/1955 Dolan 161-117 X 2,722,730 11/ 1955 Knowland et al 161-88 2,735,426 2/ 1956 Claydon 161--117 X ROBERT F. BURNE'IT, Primary Examiner M. A. LITMAN, Assistant Examiner v Us. C1. XR. 139-407; 152-209; -161117, 123 

